Winter Storm Uri has already claimed the lives of 30 people in Texas, and thousands of residents in the Lone Star State remain without power or water, but an executive with a major energy company is boasting that the frigid weather is great news for the bottom line, Common Dreams reports:
“Obviously, this week is like hitting the jackpot.” That’s what Roland Burns, president and chief financial officer of Comstock Resources, Inc., a shale drilling company, told investors on an earnings call earlier this week, according to NPR.
Natural gas output has decreased as a result of the massive ice storm, right as demand has risen, and that has caused “catastrophic shortages” that have also led to massive increases in the prices paid by customers. The result is that many customers could see eye-popping bills in the near future:
Pricing for natural gas for heating and power generation is now soaring in the south. At these prices, homeowners would face $1000 a month utility bills for heating and electricity if costs are passed on. More likely, a long term stiff storm surcharge will be added to bills. https://t.co/gvl59LReEO
— Stop the Cap! (@stopthecap) February 19, 2021
Despite the bragging about how the storm has been a financial bonanza for energy companies, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has repeatedly tried to suggest that green energy initiatives such as wind turbines are to blame for the problems being experienced by millions of Texans. His comments have drawn scorn from many, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), one of the co-sponsors of the Green New Deal:
Fossil fuel billionaires are profiting off this nightmare. CFOs called it a “jackpot.”
The reason GOP are scrambling to blame the Green New Deal is bc it’s the biggest legislative threat against the corrupt powers responsible for (& benefiting from) the suffering unfolding now. https://t.co/3rRXKGUQOc
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2021
Rather than trying to blame others, Ocasio-Cortez has raised $2 million for direct relief for Texans while Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz was abandoning the state as he and his family hopped a plane to Cancun, Mexico.
What we’re seeing in Texas this week is likely to be repeated across the country, experts warn:
“They are stressing that the United States, which is currently severely unprepared to confront dangerous storms, must improve its capacity to deal with worst-case scenarios.
“‘We’re already seeing the effects of climate change,’ Sascha von Meier, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, told The Guardian Friday. ‘There will be more of this and it will get worse.'”
Energy companies, on the other hand, will be high-fiving and celebrating.
Featured Image Via KHOU
